* 
20 Dr. Engelmann. 
BUSHBERG CATALOGUE. 
Hybridity. 
justly claimed to be a hybrid, and what only a 
variety within the limits of some variable spe- 
cies, and the opinions of different persons may 
honestly vary on these points, But whoever 
has studied the great variability of many 
plants will hesitate long before he calls to his 
aid the often fanciful help of hybridity in the 
explanation of doubtful forms. Where species 
is, it is 
e of its characters 
in a hybrid off-spring, ehcugh the general 
looks of the questionable plant otherwise may 
not conform to our ideaof Labrusca at all; but 
in other cases, where species already stand 
near one another, the matter becomes much 
more difficult. But there is another way, 
unfortunately a very tedious one, to assist 
in such investigations, viz: to sow the seeds 
of hybrids and study their offspring; for it is 
nished by the well-known Taylor or Bullit 
grape. The vigorous growth of this form, its 
thin diaphragms, its glossy, glabrous fol- 
iage, its small clusters of rather small berries 
entirely destitute of foxy taste, all seem to 
point toitas a cultivated variety of Riparia ; 
but when we come to examine the tendrils we 
pont © to panier and on so eae seeds differ 
size and their 
New it so happens 
. been planted by the 
in Europe, in order to raise resistant 
form (see ‘page 13, fig. 8). 
“that ee 
stock for grafting, and the general a iganee! is ce 
that one cannot find two seedlings in a hund- 
red alike, and similar to the cities 
some approach the Riparia type, and others 
show the Labrusea parentage distinctly. 
Thus, to give only one example, one of such 
seedlings—the now frequently cultivated E/- 
vira—is a Taylor seedling with a close approach 
to Labrusca. 
It would further the study of our Grape- 
vines considera bly if some of those that have 
the zeal, the leisure and the opportunity, 
would institute such experiments with doubt- 
ful forms. 
Pursuing this in teresting subject further, I 
may add that where nearly allied species grow 
near together, and bloom about the same time, 
they’ are more likely to hybridize than such 
different period of flowering. 
considerations we must not forget that with 
the innumerable opportunities given every 
where for hybridization we find comparatively 
h 
prevented by countless obstacles. If it were 
not so, we would meet with more hybrids in 
our woods and prairies than with genuine spe- 
cies; but how rare are they, and what a find 
it is fora botanist to discover one! And this 
is the more to be wondered at, because the 
— organs of the plants, though mostly 
in one flower, are usually so organized 
that self-fertilization is made difficult, or is 
excluded, and that cross-fertilization is the 
rule. We may put it down as t 
honest nature abhors hybridization. 
